


A is A: Wonders

by Flyboy254



Series: A Is A [7]
Category: Fairy Tail, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 20:29:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13725396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyboy254/pseuds/Flyboy254
Summary: While attempting to put magic to the test, Carter is left to handle the SGC's first encounter with other dimensional travelers that aren't a mirror image arriving at the SGC, and learns that not everyone takes magic at face value.





	A is A: Wonders

**Wonders**

 

O’Neill clutched at the sides of his head, Carter still bombarding him with her time talking to Winston. “And its incredible sir, with his technology we could create our own functioning stargate network, completely independent of the Goa’uld or any other threats. He even thinks that with what we’ve found we can jumpstart development of a more advanced spacecraft than our current prototype.”

 

“Carter, as much as I love hearing you go on and on about theories and equations and test beds I am going on leave,” O’Neill said. “Look, you know Hammond’s giving us all a few days now that Teal’c and Daniel are back, maybe take a few?”

 

Carter smiled. “I know sir, but Erza and Lucy agreed to help me with some tests. I think that their abilities aren’t so much tied to their own selves as they are to some kind of built-in matrix that their equipment has. I’m basing it off of the theory that-” O’Neill held up a hand. “Right, have a good leave sir.”

 

As O’Neill walked out, MSgt. Siler turned the corner O’Neill was walking out from. “Good morning, sir. Good morning ma’am, you’re not taking any leave?”

 

“I’m running a few tests with Erza and Lucy. What about you, you’re not heading home?”

 

“We’re refurbishing one of the old dorms on sub-level eighteen to serve as a briefing room, Gen. Hammond’s pretty sure we’ll need it since we keep bringing back new teams.”

 

Carter cringed a little. “Right, sorry.”

 

“It’s no problem ma’am,” Siler said, hefting his tools. “Things are pretty quiet now, I might actually be able to get some work done for a change.”

 

Carter smiled, parting ways with Siler as she went for the control room. Chief MSgt Harriman was at his post, monitoring all readings from the gate. Which, on a slow day, meant he could catch up on his reading. “What’s the reading list today?”

 

Harriman sat up a little straighter. “Slaughterhouse Five. It’s not the worst, but I don’t like how it feels like we’re supposed to just accept terrible things because you can’t change them.”

 

“Well hopefully we’re about to change a lot more of them for ourselves.” Carter leaned over to view the displays. “Any sign from Erza or Lucy yet?”

 

“We’ve still got ten minutes before they’re scheduled to arrive, but I haven’t seen anything from them yet. We just made some fresh coffee if you want some major.”

 

Carter nodded. “Wouldn’t hurt.”

 

It was a moment to savor, the SGC could rarely be called “quiet”. Being able to just sit, drink coffee, and discuss literature for even a few minutes was something that Carter couldn’t remember being able to do for a long time. She got so wrapped up she nearly ignored the alert of a dimensional portal opening. Harriman was on it faster than Carter could explain string theory. “Incoming travelers, IDs are Ms. Heartfilia and Ms. Scarlet.”

 

Carter hurried down to the gate room, arriving in time to watch Erza and Lucy walk out of two bright lights in the middle of the floor. “Erza, Lucy, thanks for coming.”

 

“It’s not trouble,” Erza said, smiling as she walked to Carter. “In truth I’m rather excited, I’ve never seen ‘science’ practiced before.”

 

“Honestly, I’m just here to get out of Natsu’s way for a little while,” Lucy said, looking happy and exhausted. “He’s trying to convince Makarov that just because the EU and PAC are in a cease-fire doesn’t mean he can’t keep fighting.”

 

“Well it’s good news for us, Gen. Vollmer said that we should be able to bring in more support now that the fighting’s at least stopped for a few months as the diplomats sort it out. C’mon, I’ll show you to the lab.”

 

Stepping into the lab Lucy had to stop and look around for a minute. Banks of computers stood lined against the walls, monitors idly displaying the SGC logo. Carter walked over to a camera on a table with dozens of pieces of equipment, setting three up on a tripod. “So, what do you need us to do first?”

 

“First I need to record the process from multiple angles. Then I’ll set up several pieces of monitoring equipment to compile any emissions from your equipment. If we can I’d also like you both to go through an MRI to show us if there’s anything different in your minds compared to what we’ve seen already.”

 

Lucy tried to smile. “That all sounds really complicated, couldn’t we just show you?”

 

“No chance,” Carter said, setting up a second camera. “Just taking things at face value is how the Goa’uld gained their power in the first place. If we have the ability to replicate your abilities we’ll open up a new frontier in the fields of quantum physics and biology.”

 

Erza had a confused look. “You know we have dozens of researchers also investigating ways of using magic. Couldn’t you just ask for their notes and files?”

 

Carter shook her head as she went to setup the third camera. “Science requires independent verification of all findings. I don’t have magic or access to their equipment, so I can’t authentically replicate the results.”

 

Erza sat on one of the chairs, and cut straight for the heart of the issue. “Why don’t you like the idea of magic, Maj. Carter?”

 

Carter thought for a second as she set up the third tripod. “I don’t like the idea of not knowing something. I don’t know how to smith metal, but I understand the basics of how it works. Just because someone can use ‘magic’ doesn’t mean that we understand the base reason for why it works. The entire reason we came to your dimension was to find resources to help fight the Goa’uld, if we can replicate it then we can finally justify it to Sen. Kinsey.”

 

Lucy groaned. “What’s with that guy anyway? Why’s he care so much about what you find?”

 

“Kinsey thinks that just burying the stargate again and ignoring the rest of the universe will keep us safe.” Carter hooked up two cables to the back of the camera. “Honestly I don’t think he likes the fact that he’s not a big man anymore compared to what we’ve found.”

 

“Typical,” Erza said. “Lt. Hawkeye mentioned something Dr. Jackson said, A is A?”

 

Carter nodded as she finished with the third camera. “Yeah, that’s the best way to look at it.” Patting the camera, Carter motioned for Lucy to back out of the triangle of cameras. “Okay, start small Erza. Just try to put a glove on your hand, something that doesn’t take a lot of effort.” Erza nodded, stepping into the center of the three cameras. “Visual observations of abilities of Ms. Erza Scarlet. Subject age?”

 

“19.”

 

“What do you call this ability?”

 

“Requip.”

 

“How does it function?”

 

“A wizard using requip is utilizing a subset of spatial magic. Items are exchanged through another dimension and on the users summons are exchanged.”

 

Carter nodded. “Note that ability adheres to first law of thermodynamics in that object is not being created or destroyed. Subject will now demonstrate ability.”

 

Erza held her left hand out in front of her, and with a flash of light a steel gauntlet appeared on her hand.

 

Carter held back a frustrated sigh. “Is it always that bright?” Erza nodded. “Great, I’ll have to bring in some specialized equipment. Alright Erza, send the glove back and try a weapon.”

 

Harriman was reading through the Tralfamadorians explaining free will when the sensors in the room started to go off. Alarms started to sound and the staff in the observation room rushed to figure out what was happening. “ _No teams due back, no scheduled arrivals from the Tok’ra, what are we getting?_ ” Checking the monitors, Harriman felt the blood rush from his face. “Unauthorized dimensional breach, security teams to standby!”

 

Airmen rushed into the gate room, the quantum mirror lighting up. Harriman knew that something was wrong, the mirror only showed the other side when activated. No one had ever recorded it giving off a bright light. Heavy guns were manned, dozens of rifles leveled at the entrance.

 

No one flinched when three teenaged girls fell out of the mirror, and as miniature arcs of lightning shot out of the gate the light vanished. Up in sub-level sixteen, Siler felt a minor shock on his hand, and cursed. Checking the grounds, he sighed and waited for the alarms to go silent again before getting back to work.

 

Harriman blinked. None of them had natural hair colors. One looked like she was a blonde, but the deep red streaks in it disabused him of that. One had brilliant pink hair, cotton candy colored straight from a carnival. The third had purple hair, with a pink highlight on her forehead. “ _Maybe they’re like Natsu?_ ”

 

The red-and-blonde one rubbed at her head, pulling herself up from the floor only to duck back down and cover her head. “Don’t hurt us, don’t do anything, please!” Almost like it was an afterthought, she threw herself over the other two.

 

The airmen didn’t move, but they did start looking to each other for answers. Three teenage girls suddenly appearing in the gate room wasn’t the usual threat the SGC expected. Carter ran into the room with her test subjects. Erza had her sword up, only to stop at the sight. “They’re not anyone you recognize?”

 

Carter shook her head. “What happened?”

 

Harriman stumbled over a few words. “The quantum mirror activated, we scrambled teams but there was no sign of the other side. Just a bright white light.”

 

Carter shook her head. “That shouldn’t have happened, that implies there was some kind of interference.” She paused. “I don’t think they’re armed either.”

 

Harriman nodded and leaned to the mic. “Slowly move off each other and raise your hands into the air.” The three girls did so, the pink-haired on not looking frightened like her friends. She looked more confused than anything else. “Hey, this isn’t a magical land of ponies. It looks more like where Maud interns.”

 

An NCO stepped forward. “All of you, keep your hands up and follow our instructions explicitly. Do you understand?” The trio nodded.

 

“They’ll be taken down to the holding rooms,” Carter said. “Call Gen. Hammond, tell him we’ll handle this as best we can. Get a line to the Pentagon, don’t tell them anything more than what we know. Call the infirmary, get the doctor on-call to standby for a medical examination of the three as soon as we have them secured and interviewed.”

 

Erza lowered her blade. “What do you want us to do major?”

 

Carter paused. “Both of you just standby, if I need your help I’ll call for you.” Walking out of the control room, Carter sped for the base’s duty officer for the night in charge of security. “Are there any reports of disturbances on other levels?”

 

“No ma’am,” the captain said. “Base is on lockdown, what do you think?”

 

“Are the cameras in the rooms recording?” The captain nodded. “I’ll tell Gen. Hammond we have the situation under control for now, if we need additional resources we’ll call on the Pentagon. I want them fed in about four hours, something small, understood?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

Carter nodded and walked to the briefing room, cursing her luck. “Off all the times for this to happen.”

 

Two hours later, Carter was in the briefing room watching the feeds from the three rooms along with Harriman, Erza, and Lucy. The girl with red-blonde hair was busy feeling around the edges of the room trying to escape. Occasionally she shot a dirty look at the camera, but didn’t bother stopping. The purple-haired girl was curled up in a ball on the bed, looking around the room in terror. The pink-haired one was lying upside down off the side of the bed, singing as she kicked her legs in the air. “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream!”

 

Carter blinked. “I’m awake, right?”

 

Erza leaned over the table. “They all have necklaces.” Carter noticed it too. Each of the girls had a small crystal necklace. “Could they be like a lacrima?”

 

Carter shook her head. “We can’t be sure unless we see them in action, and if this is a trojan horse scenario I don’t want to risk it.”

 

Lucy looked up. “Trojan horse?”

 

“A fake,” Carter said. “This could be an attempt by an enemy force to infiltrate the base by using what looks like innocent kids before they spring a surprise attack.”

 

“So you’re going to give them time to see what happens,” Erza said. “That’s why you haven’t searched them either.”

 

“If they’re rigged to explode I don’t want to take that risk out on our people.”

 

Lucy gasped. “Who would make them explode?!”

 

Carter frowned, thinking back to her first meeting with Samantha. “You’d be amazed what people will do to strike at an enemy.” Carter shook her head as the pink one kept singing. “Seriously, is it just something about the room?”

 

As the clock ticked four hours, Carter got up. “Okay, I’ll talk to the red-haired one first. She looks like she’s the most stable of the three. Erza, Lucy, I want both of you to back me up outside in case something happens.”

 

Leading the way to the isolation rooms, Carter paused as she came to the first door. “Okay, just standby and wait. If something does go wrong, come in and just get me out. We don’t need anyone dead.”

 

Lucy smiled. “Oh, I’ll summon one of my spirits.” Before Carter could oppose, Loke appeared. “There, now we’re all set.”

 

“Hey Lucy, Erza.” Loke smiled. “Oh, Maj. Carter. Hey, glad to see you again. Though this place looks pretty lame.” The airmen guarding the doors leaned over to stare at the sudden appearance of Loke in the hall, then leaned back. Just another day at the SGC.

 

“Loke, hi. Listen, Lucy can help you catch up on what’s happened. If anything happens, just come in and get me out, no need to rough anyone up.” Nodding to the airmen to unlock the door, Carter stepped inside to see the teen jump up from a vent on the floor. “Hi.”

 

The girl glared at Carter. “Hi. Where are we?”

 

“You’re in a government facility,” Carter said, walking over to a chair in front of a small desk. “I’m Maj. Carter, it’s nice to meet you.”

 

“You must have a funny way of meeting people,” the girl said, crossing her arms as she walked across the room. “Why are we locked up? And why were you trying to hurt us?”

 

“I promise, we weren’t trying to hurt you.” Carter quickly tried to backtrack, the last thing she needed were these three going back to their dimension and tell of the dangerous lunatics willing to shoot on sight. “This facility is classified, and the room you came into is our main point of operations. We didn’t want to take the risk that you might be an enemy trying to seize this base.” The girl sighed and walked over to the bed. “I’m Sam, what’s your name?”

 

“Sunset Shimmer.” Sitting down on the bed, Sunset rubbed her eyes. “So, does stuff like this happen a lot here? The way you guys reacted I figured that you must have a lot of people going through portals.”

 

“Usually we’re the ones sending them out,” Carter said quietly. “Though from how you’re talking you sound like you have some experience with traveling through dimensions as well.” Carter realized for a second that she said that sentence with a straight face.

 

“You’re not kidding,” Sunset said, smiling a little. “Where we came from is the second world I’ve gone to, though I guess it’s become my new home.”

 

Carter blinked. “You _live_ in a new dimension?”

 

Sunset blinked. “You’re confused?”

 

Carter nodded. “Yeah, of course. I mean given how young you are I’m amazed you haven’t suffered E.T.C. Hell I guess the fact that we haven’t had any yet should be a good sign that we’ve just been lucky really.”

 

Sunset blinked again. “Uh, what’s etc?”

 

Carter launched into a small spiel. “Oh, entropic cascade failure. Basically if there are two of you in a room from different realities, the one that isn’t native to the reality in question is in effect being rejected because it’s a foreign element. It’s just the universe’s defense mechanism against being undone by an irresolvable paradox.”

 

Sunset shook her head as she tried to process the statement. “That is _so_ weird. I mean we never had any problems when Twilight come through the portal and met her double from my home. Maybe there’s something that changed when Twilight and I came to Canterlot.”

 

Carter nodded. “We’re still pretty new to travelling between dimensions ourselves honestly.” Staring at Sunset, Carter was pretty secure in making an initial judgement that Sunset wasn’t an immediate danger to the SGC or Earth. Of course, Cassandra hadn’t purposefully been a threat either. Hopefully the medical exam and a psych-eval could shed some more light on the girls.

 

Sunset’s stomach grumbled, and she awkwardly smiled at Carter. “Sorry, I guess a lot of time’s passed since we got here.”

 

Carter nodded. “Don’t worry, I made sure to get some food ready for you three. We need to take care of a few things, but we’ll send you all back home as soon as possible.”

 

Sunset nodded. “Thanks. Listen, just make sure that Twilight is okay? She’s not as used to this kind of stuff as me. Or you, I guess.”

 

“Yeah, we kind of figured from the camera feeds,” Carter said. Turning at a knock on the door, Carter smiled. “Here, a little food. It isn’t the greatest you’ve ever had, but it’ll keep you feed until we can send you back.”

 

Sunset smiled as Carter let in an airman with a tray in hand. It wasn’t a big meal like Carter said, but right then Sunset was glad to have any food available.

 

“I’m gonna go talk with the other two, which is the one with the pink hair?”

 

“That’s Pinkie Pie,” Sunset said, taking the chair at the desk Carter vacated. “The one with glasses and purple hair is Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.” Carter nodded. Part of her thought the names were odd, but then again she also fought alongside a man with a juvenile mind-controlling parasite in a marsupial-like pouch in his stomach so names like Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were comparatively tame.

 

As Carter walked out, Sunset looked down on the tray. It wasn’t so bad looking overall; Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and peas. They even had sugar cookies on the side with sprinkles on them and some milk. Smiling, Sunset started to carve up the steak when she froze just as she was about eat a piece. “Wait, sprinkles?”

 

Sunset jumped up and ran for the door, but just as she grabbed the door there was a dull explosion from down the hall. Groaning, Sunset walked back to the desk and started eating.

 

Loke looked up as he covered Lucy from the blast, airmen standing beside the door with rifles ready. Carter and Erza stood up slowly, everyone looking at each other for some kind of clue to what just happened. Then the sound of laughter came from inside the room, and as the door fell into the corridor Pinkie Pie stood in the doorway with a blackened face. “Oops, sorry, I was just trying to decorate the room a little.”

 

Carter shook her head. “Erza, you can put the sword down. I think we’re just dealing with teenagers.”

 

* * *

 

Gen. Hammond didn’t need to be in the room to make it obvious he was incredulous. “ _Major, can you please repeat what you just said? It sounded like you just said three teenagers managed to break into the SGC from another dimension._ ”

 

Carter sighed as she took the call in the briefing room. “I did sir.” She let Gen. Hammond have a moment to mentally take stock of his life. “We don’t think they’re an opposing force though sir, I’m pretty sure they just arrived by accident.”

 

Hammond collected himself with a long and pained sigh. “ _I don’t need to impart on you that Sen. Kinsey will seize on this. We need to send them back as soon as possible._ ”

 

“Understood sir, we’ll work on it as fast as we can and update you the second we hear anything.” As Hammond hung up, Carter waited until the line went dead to let out a groan. “Oh God I did not want this now.”

 

Erza nodded. “Well we can help however we can major. Just tell us what to do.”

 

Carter nodded. “Well the first thing we can do is ask the girls more about their abilities. Lucy, you take Twilight, she’ll need someone who’s not very…well, not very intimidating.”

 

Lucy gave a thumbs up and winked. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she’s comfortable.”

 

“Erza, I’ll let you talk to Pinkie Pie. Just think of her as a Natsu who operates as someone who’s goofy instead of angry all the time.”

 

Erza nodded. “I’ll be able to talk to her easily.”

 

“I’ll talk with Sunset. I feel like she’s the one who’s the most emotionally stable of the three, she’s certainly had the least difficulty in adapting to the changes they’ve just gone through.” Leading the way, Carter walked to the infirmary to find Dr. Frasier looking over Pinkie Pie with a look that screamed, “Help me I have no idea what’s happening.”

 

“Sam, hi,” she said, quickly leading Carter away as Pinkie hummed a little song to herself on one of the beds. “Okay, what is with these kids?”

 

Carter looked over at Pinkie. “Why, what’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing with the other two. The pink one has a heartbeat that’s at least three times faster than any human heartbeat I’ve ever heard before. I can only imagine what her metabolism is like, it might explain why she described her diet as being primarily made of sweets and sugars.”

 

“Define primarily?”

 

Dr. Frasier checked her notes. “I eat at least five cupcakes every day at lunch. I always make sure the fridge is stocked with whipped cream, and I never leave home without at least six cookies.” She looked up at Carter. “In my hair.”

 

Carter’s non-reaction was reaction enough. “Well, okay, so did you ask her how she caused that explosion?”

 

“I didn’t ask that yet.” Dr. Frasier looked over at Twilight. “That one’s suffering from shock, we’re trying to keep her mind from dwelling on what’s happened but she keeps mentioning that it’s her fault. I’m guessing she’s the one who wanted to open the portal from their end.”

 

“She looks terrified,” Carter said. “Is she hurt at all?”

 

“No, none of them have any injuries aside from what they got when they hit the floor. It’s strange, it’s almost like they got sucked in by the gate instead of just walking through.”

 

Erza shook her head. “That’s odd, did they have something go wrong then they came through?”

 

“You’ll have to find that out, I just handle the medical work. You’re all just lucky I didn’t leave yet.” Dr. Frasier smiled and put her clipboard under her arm. “I’ll get moving on their bloodwork, I’ll tell you what I find when I find it.”

 

Carter nodded, looking over to Sunset as the girl sat atop the bed. Stood a small distance away, and Carter figured that now was the chance to try and learn some more.

 

Sunset looked up. “Hey. Sorry, we’re still trying to keep control over these powers we’ve gained.”

 

“ _Great, more magic._ ” Carter patted Sunset’s shoulder. “It’s fine, the damage was pretty much superficial. No one was hurt either, we’re just trying to piece together what happened.”

 

“Pinkie Pie got her hands on some sugar,” Sunset said, sounding more resigned than wondering what happened. “Course, the sprinkles were more likely the problem. The cookie would have probably blasted out the whole place.”

 

Carter blinked. “She can turn sugar into an explosive?”

 

“I’m pretty sure that she’s channeling energy from her necklace into the sugar that forces the molecules to release the excess energy due to being made unstable. It’s just a working theory though, I'm still trying to factor in why it doesn't violate entropy and whether or not a vacuum is left if it only uses the surrounding oxygen.” Sunset saw Carter staring at her like she had not only grown a second head, but that head was singing Pavarotti. “Are you okay?”

 

“You’re studying this with scientific inquiry,” Carter whispered. “How far have you gotten?”

 

Sunset looked confused. “Well, mostly we’re focused on just trying to figure out the specifics of the portal from our world. We’re pretty sure that it’s breaking through the barriers of space-time by creating a stabilized resonance field capable of not so much breaking through space as-”

 

Carter finished at the same time as Sunset. “It slips through the subatomic space between the heavy particles.” Carter beamed at the statement. “Oh my God, this is perfect. I can’t believe it. You’re only a teenager but you’re already on a similar pace to us to understanding how to travel between dimensions.”

 

Sunset smiled. “Thanks, but I’m honestly still trying to learn as much as I can about it all. I grew up thinking about this all as magic, but the technologies I’ve found in my home can help me understand it in even greater detail than before.”

 

Carter motioned to the door. “Well we’ve got one of the most sophisticated labs in the world for actually testing theoretical and quantum physics, if you’ve been working on this for some time this equipment might help you really understand what you’re working with.”

 

Sunset’s eyes lit up now. “Yeah, that could help us get him in no time. Thanks Sam.”

 

Lucy smiled at the sight of Carter and Sunset suddenly bonding over their discovery of a mutual obsession with the truth. “She always like that?”

 

“As long as I’ve known her. Which admittedly isn’t that long.” Twilight remained curled up on herself on the bed, legs held up against her chest and eyes lost in the shock of what happened. Lucy could understand. Watching SG-1 take on Acnologia and kill the Black Dragon had been a wake up call to her that there were other forces that could equal magic, and she felt lucky that SG-1 had been the ones to come meet Fairy Tail. Just by gleaming from the television broadcasts that she’d caught pieces of walking around the base she knew that anyone else mighty have just killed all of Fairy Tail’s S-class trial participants and walked off to wreak more havoc.

 

“Listen, I promise you’ll be okay,” Lucy said, leaning in a little to Twilight. “Maj. Carter is gonna get you home soon, and you’ll be back home with your family and any pets you have.”

 

Twilight looked up. “You can get me back to Spike?” She started to open up a little. “I mean, I know he’ll be fine on his own until we get back but I’m just so worried about being stuck in a new dimension and I don’t know what to really think right now because you all pointed _guns_ at us and there’s no real way of knowing what’s going on outside this facility-”

 

Lucy quickly summoned Plue. “Here, why not play with this little guy to help you calm down?”

 

Twilight stared at the strange little creature for a moment, her mind instantly going to snowman. “Wow. Is this an artificial construct? Or did you pull him here from another parallel dimension?”

 

“I guess a parallel dimension?” Lucy shrugged. “Where I come from we’ve always just called it the Celestial Spirit World.”

 

Twilight poked at Plue, the diminutive creature shuddering at the touch. “Oh, no, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you little guy.”

 

“It’s fine, he’s always like that,” Lucy said, petting Plue’s head. “Why don’t you give him a hug?”

 

Twilight flinched a little, if a poke made the poor thing shudder she didn’t want to imagine what a hug would do. Slowly and as gently as possible, Twilight brought the small creature into her arms and clutched him close. “Aw, you’re adorable.” Plue purred a little, hugging Twilight back.

 

“See, he likes you too.” Lucy patted Plue’s head and smiled at Twilight. “Look, I know it was scary the way you got here. But Maj. Carter’s gonna get you and your friends back, I promise.”

 

The next bed over, Erza stared with awe at the plate of strawberry cake Pinkie pulled from her hair. “Amazing. There’s no hair on it either. Do you have a fork?”

 

Pinkie reached into her jacket and pulled one out. “Can’t have cake without a fork unless you want to lick your fingers clean after.”

 

One of the nurses looked up. “Hey, where the hell did you get that? Get that food out of here, now.”

 

Carter sighed. “C’mon, we’ll set you all up in new rooms. We’ll talk about what happened tomorrow and work on getting you all back.” Leading the girls out, Twilight cuddling Plue as Erza happily chowed down on her cake, MSgt. Siler walked in. “Siler, you okay?”

 

“Yes ma’am, just took a little shock earlier.” Shrugging, Siler gave Carter a grin. “At least this time it didn’t send me flying across the room.”

 

Carter nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a welcome change of pace. I’m gonna get the girls set up for their stay, how’s it coming upstairs?”

 

“Almost finished,” Siler said. “I should be finished by tomorrow.” Waving, Siler walked to the nearest bed and sat down, rubbing at his forehead. He’d started to get what promised to be a pounding headache and knew he’d need something to take care of it.

 

“Alright master sergeant,” an orderly said. “What’s the problem today?”

 

“Another shock,” Siler said. “Not as bad as usual.”

 

“Okay, let’s just check where you got shocked.” Siler held up his hand, but the orderly yelped as they touched it. “Ow! Little bit of a static charge there.”

 

Siler shrugged. “Guess so.”

 

* * *

 

“So do you think our parents are worried about us?”

 

Carter nearly spit out her coffee in the lab as Pinkie Pie spun around on a chair. “Your parents? Why didn’t any of you mention parents before?”

 

“Well having guns leveled at your head kind of derails your train of thought,” Twilight pointed out. “Why is that important anyway?”

 

“What if your parents call the police to report you missing? God, so far we’ve been the only ones travelling, we never thought about something like this.”

 

“Principal Celestia will have it covered Sam,” Sunset said, turning from her own temporary bench. “She’ll probably agree with some story from Applejack or Rarity that we’re over at a sleepover or something if we aren’t back in a few hours. Besides, I’ve almost got this hooked up.”

 

Carter looked over. Sunset put two leads onto the ends of her crystal. “Erza, what do you think?”

 

“There’s a lot of raw magical energy in it for sure,” Erza said, gently reaching to the crystal. “For a lacrima that small to have such potential is nearly unheard of.”

 

“Maybe it’s a magical Moore’s Law,” Carter said. Twilight perked up at the phrase. “Okay, so we’ve got it hooked up to the multi-meter, now let’s see how it reacts to having a single Volt DC run through it.” Carter switched on a power supply, and watching as a single Volt ran through the crystal. Everyone braced themselves for catastrophe a little, but calmed after a few seconds. “Okay, next is two Volts.” Still nothing. “Okay, moving to five.”

 

Twilight leaned over to Sunset. “Guess it’s a good thing Rainbow isn’t here right now.” Sunset nodded.

 

“Still nothing on the meter,” Carter said. “Increasing to ten Volts.” The crystal started to hum, and everyone jumped back. “Okay, tester notes resonating tone present at application of ten Volts. Raising to fifteen.” The hum increased slightly, but the crystal still remained inert. “Fifteen.”

 

Lucy leaned forward. “Hey, I think it’s starting to glow.”

 

Carter saw it too; the crystal was starting to give off a red light. Barely noticeable, but there. “Increasing to twenty.”

 

Pinkie lolled her head around her shoulders. “Why are we being so slow again?”

 

Carter focused on the crystal. “If we introduce too high a voltage on the crystal too fast, we risk damaging it without observing what it might do. Seeing as this is Sunset’s only one I don’t want to wreck it without realizing what it does.” Carter paused. “Or wreck it at all.”

 

“I’m just worried,” Twilight said quietly. “Every time magic is introduced to a new world, bad things happen. Just look what happened to us.”

 

Carter quickly pulled the plug on the experiment, shutting down the generator and ripping the leads away from the crystal. “What happened to you?”

 

Twilight hugged Plue tighter. “It was when I first started researching magic. I created what I thought was a detector capable of tracking the EM fields associated with it. Unfortunately, it also was able to trap the magic, and wound up becoming dangerous.” Twilight buried her face into Plue. “Making me dangerous.”

 

Sunset walked over and put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Magic always seems to be unstable when it enters new worlds. People who have never been exposed to it before act like they’re overwhelmed with the power, it turns them into what they shouldn’t be.”

 

Carter nodded. “That makes some sense. What doesn’t is how you managed to breach the quantum mirror. That was made by a species far in our universe’s past millennia ahead of our own current technological progress.”

 

Twilight looked up. “They were before you but still more advanced?” Carter nodded. “Wouldn’t their science have looked like magic to you at one point?”

 

Carter sighed, but had to agree. “Clarke’s Third Law.”

 

Lucy raised a hand as Erza kept eating her cake. “What’s Clarke’s Third Law?”

 

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from science,” Carter said. “It states that things we think of as magic are just natural or technological advancements that we just haven’t learned to understand the workings of yet.”

 

Erza put her empty plate down. “So that’s why you’re so determined to find out the finer points of magic. You don’t want someone else to figure it out first.”

 

“If you come across Zeref again, we could be able to neutralize his abilities and stop him before he can wreak any more havoc. We could stop any of your enemies from using their abilities while still allowing you to use yours.”

 

Erza shook her head. “There’s no honor in a fight against a disabled opponent.”

 

Carter shook her head. “There’s no honor involved at all. If we fought honorably against the Goa’uld we’d have been killed and the world would be overrun. War isn’t about being honorable, it’s about making sure your enemy can’t fight back.”

 

Lucy spoke up. “Uh, guys?”

 

“Wait, war?” Sunset shot up. “What kind of world are we in right now? I need to get Twilight and Pinkie back home before anything happens to them.”

 

“Guys?”

 

“That’s what we’re trying to work on right now,” Carter argued. “We just need to figure out how to get you back, those crystals could be the key.”

 

“Guys.”

 

“I don’t understand, you fought against Grimoire Heart with barely a scratch. Now you think that our foes should be utterly depowered when you go against them?”

 

Carter’s hands went out. “If that’s what it takes to make sure our friends come back alive and unharmed.”

 

“Guys!”

 

Everyone glared at Lucy. “ _What!_ ”

 

Lucy froze, and Pinkie took over. “Uh, I think it’s about the crystal still being glowy.”

 

The women stared at the crystal. Even disconnected from all leads, there it was. Still glowing. Brighter.

 

“Oh God, it’s acting like a capacitor.” Carter looked to Sunset. “We need to bleed off it’s energy, get it drained as quickly as possible.”

 

Sunset nodded, grabbing the crystal. She yelped and pulled back. “I don’t understand, why’d it shock me?”

 

The crystal sparked again, arcs of electrical power jumping off it. Twilight yelped as a bolt struck the floor in front of her. Pinkie and Lucy ducked as an arc shot into the ceiling. Carter covered her head as one bolt hit and destroyed a light fixture, sparks showering over the women like hot rain.

 

On sub-level sixteen, Siler was blown away from yet more wiring. Unlike before, the arcs of electricity remained shooting around his body.

 

Carter took apart the test set, Plue ineffectually trying to wave the smoke out of the room. “Is everyone okay?” A chorus of groans. “Okay, I’ll accept it.”

 

“What was that?” Erza pulled Pinkie up from the floor. “I thought you only put a small amount of electricity into it.”

 

“I did,” Carter said. “Somehow the crystal magnified it, then it discharged when it entered some kind of loop.”

 

“But where’d it go?” Sunset started looking around the walls. “It could be anywhere in the base by now.”

 

“It’s electricity, it doesn’t go anywhere.” Carter shook her head. “Just because it went into the crystal doesn’t change it when it exits.” All the power suddenly cut out from the base, and the doors all opened. Emergency lights activated, and suddenly the base was full of activity. “Just once today can I please be right?”

 

“Wait, electricity,” Sunset said, grabbing her crystal. “Didn’t someone come into the infirmary talking about being shocked? Where would he be right now?”

 

“Siler? He’s a few levels up working a project where are you going?” Carter ran after Sunset, followed by the others. “Wait, what’s wrong?”

 

“He might have been affected by the magic,” Sunset shouted. “People who have never been exposed to magic never react well to it, you haven’t had this happen before?”

 

Carter shook her head. “Of course not, electricity doesn’t infect people.”

 

“The lacrima they use might be capable of releasing magical energy in a raw form,” Erza said as the group rushed into the stairway. “When we travelled to the dimension of Edolas, they had special pills capable of awakening our magic. I can’t imagine what would happen if you awoke magic power in a person that had never used it before.”

 

Pinkie stroked her chin as she charged up the stairs with the others. “Well usually it involves a lot of screaming and property damage, and sometimes even dealing with angry people who think you’re the ones responsible for ruining their lives.” She shrugged. “You get used to it.”

 

Hitting sub-level sixteen, Carter nearly collided with several airmen and civilians rushing out. “Where’s Siler, does anyone know where Siler is?”

 

“Back there,” one of the men shouted, trying to shepherd the rest away. “There’s a lot of electricity in the room he’s in ma’am, wait for us to cut the power.”

 

Sunset dashed past, and Erza requipped into her Lightning Empress armor. Carter shook her head and thought, “ _Who the hell makes armor that doesn’t actually cover the whole body?_ ”

 

It was easy to find the room, it was the only one flashing blue every few seconds with the crackling of absolute power coming out of it. Carter grabbed Sunset by the neck and held her back, Erza edging forward. Holding her spear toward the door, everyone jumped when a massive bolt of lightning struck the spear and caused Erza to seize up.

 

Sunset tried to rush for the door. “What are you crazy,” Carter said, pulling the girl back. “That armor’s got some kind of Faraday cage effect on it, if _you_ go near it you’ll fry.”

 

“He’s being overwhelmed by magic energy, we have to help him.” Sunset pointed to the door. “Are you just going to let him tear this whole place down?”

 

“Let Erza handle it first,” Carter said, pulling Sunset away. “You need to wait and let her drain off that power.”

 

Erza did her best to channel the lightning through her spear, but the sheer magical energy of the bolts was unlike what she’d ever encountered before. Forcing herself forward, the wizard forced herself to the door and peeked inside.

 

Siler was on the floor, clutching his hands to his chest and crying out. Erza saw that his classes had cracked to pieces. “Is someone there? Don’t come any closer, something’s gone wrong.”

 

“It’s Erza,” she shouted. “I’m wearing armor that can absorb electrical magic. What happened?”

 

“I was working on the wiring, there was a power surge, then I started to have lightning coming out of me.” Siler cried out as another surge of lightning shot out. “You’ve gotta get this stuff outta me, I’m going to kill someone otherwise.”

 

“Hold on, I’ll try to channel the power out of you.” Planting herself, Erza stepped forward slowly as she let the power surge through her.

 

One of the airmen stood by the controls near Harriman. “Where’s Siler, shouldn’t he already be working on this?”

 

“I don’t know, just make sure the hard drives are secured and-“ Harriman stopped when the alerts started going off. “Alert, incoming dimensional gate, all available security teams to stations in the gate room!”

 

Airmen rushed to their positions, loading rounds into chambers and leveling rifles at the mirror. The bright light started to come through again, and for a few seconds there was nothing. Not until a bright rainbow flash of light flew through the gate.

 

For a second, everyone just stared at the girl before them with wings and rainbow-colored hair hovering inside the gate room. “Uh, hi?” She yelped as the guns were trained on her, and flew back through the portal.

 

Harriman blinked. “Uh…okay.”

 

* * *

 

Rainbow grabbed the others just as they were about to step through the gate. “No one go through, no one go through!”

 

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity tried to wriggle out of Rainbow’s grasp. “The others are still back there, we need to go help them.”

 

“Not when they’re pointing guns at everyone,” Rainbow shouted. “We need to think of something else, because if we go back we’re gonna get turned into Swiss cheese.”

 

The students were circled around the portal, cameras and microphones trying to record everything. Celestia and Luna ran up, Luna holding a first aid kit.

 

“What happened, you weren’t even in there for a minute Rainbow.” Celestia watched as the portal cut out. “Why did you run back here so fast?”

 

“They had guns,” Rainbow said, her wings and ears disappearing in light. “I didn’t see any sign of Sunset, Twilight, or Pinkie.”

 

“Guns?” Celestia looked to Luna, then back to Rainbow. “What kind of guns?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know, the kinds that shoot people?” Rainbow groaned. “We’re never gonna bring them back are we?”

 

“Are we just ignoring the fact that I can make a diamond hard barrier?” Rarity groaned as her hair and ears vanished with the portal. “Oh, I just hate it when they go away.”

 

Luna finished looking Rainbow over. “You’re unharmed. Celie, we can’t let them go back there.”

 

“Say what now?” Applejack pointed to herself. “I’m super strong, Flutteryshy can talk to animals, Rarity can make diamond shields, Rainbow can fly, I mean why aren’t we just running in there now to get them out?”

 

Celestia glared at the portal. “Luna, take Applejack and Rainbow Dash with you. Tell Cherilee to meet us here in one hour. I’ll keep an eye on the portal.”

 

Luna nodded. “Girls, come with me.” Applejack and Rainbow looked at each other, trying to process the sudden personality change in the sisters. “Now!”

 

The drive to the sisters’ house was more than uncomfortable for Applejack and Rainbow, mostly because of Luna’s utter silence. It was obvious that both wanted to ask just what was going on, but neither girl dared with Vice Principal Luna looking as angry and focused as she did.

 

Luna barely parked as she left the car faster than even Rainbow could comprehend. “Both of you take whatever I hand you and take it to the car. Don’t bother with questions until after we’ve gotten the girls back. Is that understood?”

 

Applejack shook her head. “Vice Principal-“

 

“Is that understood!”

 

“Yes ma’am!”

 

Luna seemed to flash through the house, returning to the front door carrying two combat vests and a pair of gas masks. She went back into the house leaving the girls to stare at the gear. Applejack struggled to hold the equipment. “What the heck? Where’d she get these?”

 

Luna reappeared carrying two boxes of rifle ammunition, knee pads, and tactical gloves. “What are you still doing here? Get those in the car!” Applejack jumped and sped out the door, and Luna shoved the boxes into Rainbow’s hands. Rainbow didn’t wait to be yelled at, she put the boxes in the car and rushed back inside. Just in time to see Luna stalking out with two rifles in her hand. “Back in the car. Now.”

 

The two girls followed Luna into the car, making sure to sit in the back and looking nervously at the rifles as she pulled out into the street as fast as physics allowed her.

 

Rolling back in front of the school, Luna donned one of the vests. As she geared up, Applejack and Rainbow saw that Celestia had stacked several tables around the portal on their sides, placing several full files cabinets behind them. The students looked from behind locked windows, Cherilee standing behind the main doors to the school from behind a wall.

 

Luna left the car with the rifles slung over her shoulders. She threw the vest and knee pads to her sister, who put the gear on in seconds as Luna set to loading rounds into the magazines. Celestia looked over to the car. “Girls, get in the school and wait for us to tell you when to cross into the portal.”

 

Applejack shook her head. “Principal Celestia, we need to know what’s going on! Where’d you both get all this? What’re you gonna do to get them back?”

 

“Don’t question us Applejack!”

 

Everyone stared at Celestia, and with a scowl Celestia grabbed the girls and dragged them into the school. This wasn’t their kind and patient principle, this was someone they had never met before and hoped didn’t have to stay long. “Cherilee, keep them inside. When we need them, we’ll call for them.” As she slammed the doors shut, she turned to Luna and adjusted her vest. “These will buy us about maybe three rounds, you know that.”

 

Luna slammed a magazine home. “Unless you have a better suggestion? Let’s face it, just shooting into the portal without knowing what’s on the other side will not give us any advantage if they decide to come charging through in response.”

 

Looking out at the courtyard, Applejack shook her head. “What in tarnation’s going on? Ms. Cherilee, why do they have guns? Where’d they got body armor?”

 

Cherilee sighed. “I suppose the secret’s out now. Girls, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna haven’t always been teachers.”

 

Rainbow frowned. “No really.”

 

“They used to serve in the military.” Cherilee looked out as the sisters finished their preparations. “They were JTF 2.”

 

Applejack and Rainbow looked shocked, but Rarity didn’t quite react at all. “Maybe this is just me, but what exactly is that?”

 

“They’re our best soldiers, no one messes with them.” Rainbow leaned against a wall to steady herself. “If they were such top-notch types, why’re they here teaching in a school? Couldn’t they be out fighting bad guys or something?”

 

“They made it clear when I found out that they don’t like to talk about their time in the military,” Cherilee said. “If what you girls saw on the other side is right, they won’t be going in without making sure they’re ready.”

 

Putting a round in the chamber, Celestia took a breath. “Alright, are you ready?” Luna nodded. “Cherilee, send the girls out.”

 

The four walked out to the courtyard, but they didn’t see their school’s administrators anymore. They saw two women who had been through some of the worst incidents that the world could throw at them. That scared them more than any magic or monster had before. “Alright girls, you need to reopen the portal so we can try and talk to whoever is holding the others hostage.”

 

Fluttershy whimpered. “They have guns, and you have guns. Why does everyone suddenly have guns? Isn’t this getting too dangerous?”

 

“It won’t have to,” Luna said. “They didn’t shoot at Rainbow Dash, that means they were just holding a position. We’ll go in to try and get them out. If we don’t come back in fifteen minutes, close the portal and get in contact with Princess Twilight in Equestria.”

 

“We can’t just do nothing though,” Rarity said. “We can come through and help, we can-”

 

“You can’t,” Celestia said flatly. “This isn’t magic anymore girls, this is a hostage situation with potentially hostile forces from another dimension. Do you think we can call the police to handle this? Do you all actually think for a moment that you can face active combat with a trained and equipped force?” Celestia put a hand on Rarity’s shoulder and softened her gaze slightly. “We need you all to be here, if something goes wrong you can save us all.”

 

Rarity gulped. Fluttershy was shaking on the verge of tears. Rainbow and Applejack just looked confused and lost. Celestia pulled herself back a little more. “We will get the others back. As long as that portal is open, we can get back safely.”

 

Rainbow nodded. “Alright, one portal coming up.” Leading the girls over, Rainbow placed her hand on the still-ruined Wondercolt statue and focused. The others shut their eyes and concentrated, and the portal started to glow.

 

“Remember, fifteen minutes and get the portal closed,” Celestia said. “You girls will do fine.” Taking a breath, Celestia walked through, Luna following just behind.

 

Walking out, Celestia froze. There were at least a good dozen men waiting at the bottom of a ramp, weapons trained on her and Luna. It didn’t help that they all looked different, like her perception had suddenly been forced to shift without her wanting it to. The key was that they weren’t firing. Taking a breath, Celestia recognized the uniforms; they were American. “Who’s in command here?”

 

The men didn’t budge. “Put your weapons down and step away from the breach!”

 

Celestia didn’t flinch. “Three of my students came through a portal to this world, all I want is to get them back.” The men still didn’t move, but Celestia noticed their eyes change. “We aren’t here for a fight, we just want to bring them back before their families get worried.”

 

The men refused to move, but they didn’t fire either. A voice came over the PA. “ _What are their names?_ ”

 

“Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie,” Celestia said. “Where are they?”

 

“ _The girls are currently helping to handle a crisis on-base,_ ” the voice said. Celestia traced it to a man in a control room overlooking her position. “ _If you can put your weapons down we can talk this through._ ”

 

“We need to see that they’re unharmed,” Celestia shouted back. “If you don’t let us see their condition we will consider this a hostile action by your government.”

 

A few of the men looked around, and Celestia saw their ranks. Air Force. She wasn’t quite surprised; if anyone was going to be involved in traveling between dimensions it would make sense for them to take the lead. An in. “We don’t want to cause trouble for the government. Once our students are safe we’ll be willing to speak on equal terms with whoever is in charge.”

 

“Standby. Do not move from your position.” Shutting the mic off Harriman grabbed a radio. “Someone get Maj. Carter, the situation has changed.”

 

* * *

 

Carter watched Erza scream as she absorbed another blast of electricity. “I think he’s drained, but I can’t stand another burst of power. We need to get that magic out of him.”

 

Sunset grabbed Carter. “I have to do it. That magic came from my geode, there might be some kind of way to draw it back inside.”

 

“It isn’t the same amount of energy anymore,” Carter shouted. “Erza can barely focus it, what happens if whatever’s left damages the crystal?”

 

“The magical energy should still resonate with the source,” Twilight shouted. “If you introduce the geode it might function like a magnetic field. The energy will automatically be drawn to the source it came from.”

 

Carter ran it through her head. Maybe the surge had created a key difference that would make the energy react as polar opposite forces and Twilight might just be panicked and misspeaking? The crystal had been able to generate massive amounts of energy from a relatively small input, and if things went wrong Siler would be killed from her mistake.

 

“Ma’am!” Turning, Carter saw an airman running toward her. “Two more travelers from the gate, they’re saying that if they can’t check on the status of the girls then they’ll take it as hostile action. They’re armed and they knew all the girls names and their hair is…also different.”

 

Sunset shook her head. “What? What do you mean their hair is different?”

 

“I don’t know, one’s got different colored hair and one’s is dark blue and purple!”

 

“Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, they came for us,” Twilight said. “But you said they’re armed? That’s can’t be them, they must be from _another_ dimension.”

 

“We have bigger problems right now,” Lucy shouted. “Major, what should we do?”

 

Sam weighed her options as best she could, and slammed a fist against the nearest wall. “Erza, if there’s another blast try to contain it. Sunset, try to get in there and get that stuff out of Siler. Twilight, Pinkie, follow Lucy to the gate room and talk to whoever’s down there.”

 

Lucy grabbed the two girls. Erza planted herself as she tried to continue channeling the power. Sunset rushed forward with her crystal in hand. Carter watched as the girl didn’t even hesitate running into the room.

 

Sunset saw Siler doubled over, lit up in blue from the power coursing through him. “Mr. Siler! I need to get close to you, I think I can get the magic out of you.”

 

Siler nodded, Sunset able to see arcs of electricity coursing between his teeth as he shouted. “Do it!”

 

Taking a breath Sunset reached out with her geode, ignoring the crackling in the air and ozone filling her nose. She felt it contact Siler, and did her best to focus the energy suddenly flooding her being. It was a basic tenet of magic to focus it, but many of Celestia’s students couldn’t understand that the amount of power wasn’t the determining factor alone. Shutting out everything else, Sunset drained the magic out of Siler. The geode started to beam with light, cold blue lightning turned into a calming red glow. Siler could feel the force that had nearly overwhelmed him leaving, until he felt back to normal. Just in time to collapse.

 

“Hold on,” Sunset shouted, grabbing the man before he could hit the floor. It took her own reserves to even help him stay steady, just because magic could be focused no matter the amount didn’t mean it wouldn’t exhaust you. “Are you okay? Do you still feel any magic in you?”

 

Siler shook his head and weakly looked up at the girl. “I think I need to take some leave.”

 

Making sure that Siler was safely in the hands of the medical staff, Sunset and Erza walked to the gate room. They found Maj. Carter talking with Celestia and Luna, Twilight and Pinkie standing at the quantum mirror. “Sunset!” Celestia rushed over and embraced the young girl. “Thank goodness, we were so worried when you didn’t come back in time.”

 

“I can’t believe you managed to come to find us,” Sunset said, awed by the presence of her principals. “That means any of us could open the portal.”

 

“I think we should take a break from the portal for now,” Celestia said, putting a firm hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “We need to give the girls some time to move on from what’s happened.”

 

“Actually, we’ll need help.” Both turned to look at Carter, in Celestia’s case it was mostly a glare. “Look I don’t believe in magic, but even calling it that Sunset has managed to study something I’ve never seen before. I don’t even believe I’m saying this but we might need her help in the future for other problems involving what you can call magic and figuring out the deeper workings of the quantum mirror.”

 

Celestia glared at Carter, then looked to her student with deep concern. “I won’t force you, but you have to understand that this will not be like dealing with magic or what you might remember from Equestria. These will be issues that you have never faced before.”

 

Sunset looked at Celestia like the woman was a person she was seeing for the first time, and it wasn’t a pleasant meeting. “What is all this? Why are you carrying these things on you? I know I had my secrets, but you doing this? What’s the truth about _this_?”

 

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. “We can explain once we bring you back home, I promise.”

 

Sunset looked to Carter. Carter shook her head. “I can’t help you make a decision kid, you have to make the call on whether or not you can help. We can pay you, that’s about all we can help you with.” Carter blinked. “Col. O’Neill is still on leave right?” Erza and Lucy shrugged.

 

Sunset looked back to Celestia as Luna guided the girls back through the portal. “I’ll need some help knowing what to do to help them.”

 

Celestia smiled and nodded to her student. “We’ll explain as much as we can.” Sunset raised an eyebrow as her principal led her to the portal. “Secrecy agreements don't just go away after a few years.”

 

Carter smiled, turning back to Lucy and Erza as Celestia and Sunset walked back through the portal. “Well, I think we could use a break from magic today huh?”

 

Erza nodded. “Agreed. I heard Col. O’Neill and Teal’c talking about a movie called ‘Star Wars’. Is it about your exploits in fighting the Goa’uld?”

 

Carter laughed. “Not quite. I’ll hook up the DVD player.”


End file.
